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240 Section VI. Organizational and Interpersonal ConflictConflict TwoThe second major area of conflict was with two staff specialists. I think of this groupas the “legacy system.” They worked half-time and had either been hired by the previousdirector or had commenced work early during the tenure of the current directorwhen the staff shortage was acute. Whereas VMOs are responsible only for clinicalduties, staff specialists are responsible for some nonclinical duties as well, such asadministration, rosters, resident education, etc. These “staffies” form the core of adepartment. At the time of the director’s illness our staff shortages became acute, anda maximum effort was needed from all staff members. I found early on that I could notrely on these legacy staffies to do anything productive. One of these individuals wascommencing a private practice outside his hours within the department and was havingsome of the problems of the VMOs described earlier. He had other administrativeresponsibilities that he never carried out despite repeated requests. My relationshipwith him deteriorated to the point that communication broke down. Meetings wouldbe called for which he never showed up. He did petty things to flout my authority, suchas making a display of using expensive equipment or drugs that I had previouslyrestricted for budgetary reasons. Fortunately, the situation was resolved when hewished to change the days that he was working. I was then able to say that there wasno position available for him on the days he wished to work, and he elected to resign.The other staff specialist, who knew every aspect of his contract chapter and verse,would only work strictly within those stipulations. As a clinician he was good. He wasalso reliable but very inflexible. Conflict arose when I made changes to the medicalmalpractice insurance arrangements. As an employee of the hospital, the hospital providesthis insurance.This covers only our public practice, and we still need to have insurancefor private practice. It is, however, at a much-reduced rate compared to that forsomeone who works solely in private. I learned that the department was paying medicalmalpractice insurance for its members at the much higher private practitioner levelrather than at the salaried medical officer level.This benefited only those staff memberswho worked in private practice and to me seemed to represent a case of the publicsubsidizing the private system.After a consultation with the director this practice was changed so that medicalmalpractice insurance was paid at a level commensurate with that for a salaried medicalofficer. This had implications mostly for the physician who had a private practiceoutside his salaried position. He maintained that his contract stipulated that he shouldbe at the higher rate. I had obtained prior legal advice, which said that this was not thecase. This staff member ultimately felt that this was the straw that broke the camel’sback and resigned.I felt that his position was indefensible, but that the situation could have beenhandled better if I had made more of an effort to explain the changes before puttingthem in place. Ultimately though, I am sure that the same result would have happened.ReflectionThis time of conflict was difficult. All the personalities, including my own, were somewhataggressive. For my part I ascribed motives to individuals, such as greed, that theindividuals concerned obviously would not have thought of in that way.Changes to a more modern departmental structure were needed. Ultimately, staffthat were unable to adapt needed to go. A more diplomatic approach on my part may